Shred My Heart
by sassykitten1701
Summary: When your magic is sound based, and you can even hear a persons soul, how do you help someone you've never met even though their soul deep wails are begging for help? Follow Erik on his journey to find the soul that gives him pounding headaches & endless nosebleeds. Pradesh family is owned by Desna, & FT is owned by Hiro Mashima. Rated M for dark themes, adult languages, and death.
1. Chapter 1

OK, I know, I'm insane, starting another chapter piece so soon after starting Psychotic Matchmaker, and finishing Pradesh Week which was amazing! I have more things in the work, other prompts and ideas that are percolating. This particular piece however, sunk it's teeth into me, and has not let go. That being said...

The Pradesh family is not mine, the wonderful and amazing Desna created them. Fairy Tail, alas, is not mine, Hiro Mashima owns it. The only thing I own here is the plot.

Warning: This is the only time I'm putting this up here. Originally this was going to be a one piece, but as I continued to write, I realized this was going to turn into a chapter piece. As you read this, and hopefully review as they are my bread and butter, be warned, that this will likely have triggers for some people. Foul language, adult themes, mental and emotional manipulation will be included, and there is even going to be childrens death included. If you feel this is something you can't handle it's fine, no hard feelings if you can't read this particular piece as there are plenty others for you to enjoy.

Now on with the show!

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He could hear her. He didn't know where she was, or what was making the soul he was hearing wail at such a pitch that it made even him want to cry, collapse to his knees, and admit defeat, but he could hear her. It'd been going on for months now, and he couldn't make it stop. Even his dragon was starting to cry, and for the life of him, he couldn't understand why. Hell, the first time he had heard it, his dragon had acted so violently, so suddenly, that he had stumbled in the middle of a fight that a dark guild, and if it hadn't been for his instincts, and the ever so sparkly Tink, he would've lost his head that night.

Now, he was sitting at the bar in the guild hall, nursing a beer laced with some bleach in hopes to quiet the wailing he was hearing, and wincing at the various times it seemed to get louder for a moment. He didn't even see or hear one of his favorite people walk up to him, too focused on trying to block what he was hearing with no luck. So when he felt a small hand touch his shoulder, he did something he hadn't done in ages.

As soon as he felt that touch, his own hand lashed out to clamp onto it, squeezing until bone ground against bone, the small hand bending at a painful, unnatural angle, and the cry of pain catching the attention of a passing by seith mage who darted over, even as his captives knees buckled, trying to ease up on the pressure crushing their hand.

 _'Erik! Erik please, I'm sorry! Whatever I did I'm sorry!'_ A familiar, pained, musical voice managed to reach him through the constant wailing he was hearing. Gasping, he released her hand like it had burned him, and spun in place to see a blonde, pig-tailed hair at his hip, with the blue and black hair of the resident seith mage next to. Whimpering, he stumbled backwards, nearly falling off the stool he had been sitting on.

"What the fuck man?! Why'd you attack Cosplayer?!" Bix demanded, kneeling next to the blonde he had been lucky enough to call his for nearly two years now. Cupping her hand carefully, he bared his teeth in a silent, furious snarl at the sight of the already darkening bruises circling her slim wrist and slender hand.

"Bixy, it's fine..." Lucy murmured, lifting her other hand to cover his, trying to reassure him that she was fine.

"No, it's really not babe! He almost broke your wrist!" Bix snapped, sending one of his babies to get Wendy from the second floor.

"Bix...Tink...I...I'm so sorry..." Erik choked out, tripping back a few more steps, a whine strangling him. He could see the bruises in the shape of his fingers, and knowing that he was the one to put them there, on his own kin, after his dragon had shoved her down his throat as such...it was more than he could take in that moment, and combined with the wailing he was still hearing, he bolted, shaking his head when he heard Lucy and Wendy call after him.

Within moments he was gone, disappearing into the quickly falling darkness. Wendy arrived and was quick to heal her wrist, even as the three of them stared after Eriks quickly retreating form. Nodding at Bix and Lucy in reassurance, Wendy was quick to step back, giving them room to get to their feet, and before anything could be said, Lucy gripped Bix's hand and dragged him after her, following their obviously hurting poison dragon slayer.

Darting into a nearby ally, Erik was quick to use his claws and scale the brick wall to climb to the roofs before racing across shingles and vaulted roofs, eyes on the edge of the city, and the trees beyond. The amount of self-loathing he was feeling in that moment, mixed with the emotions he was drowning in from the soul he could still hear, he knew he needed to get away from everyone he cared about. Snarls escaped him, even as he tried to outrun what he was feeling, drowning in his confusion.

Before long he was jumping from the roof at the last house at the edge of the city, and darting into the forest, trees blurring past him. He didn't know where he was going, but the pull was strong, and it wasn't until he tripped, falling into a small bubbling stream, that he felt any sort of relief, no matter how small. Gasping, he stayed where he was for the moment, not caring that he was thoroughly soaked, hair dripping into his eyes, knees and hands going numb from where he knelt in the middle of the stream. He could still hear the soul wailing, but he honestly didn't know what to do. There was a time when he would've relished in the pain he was hearing, but there was something about this one that just yanked at what he had been sure was non-existent heartstrings, and mde him feel nauseous almost constantly with how strong the emotions were.

This time he heard the running footsteps coming up behind him, and a quick sniff told him exactly who it was. He wanted to run, he didn't deserve being near her after what he had done to her. But he couldn't, he was frozen, overwhelmed, and he couldn't ignore what he was hearing any more.

"Erik? Erik are you alright?" Lucy asked softly. She had dragged Bix behind her, trusting the kin bond that was between her and Erik, and they had soon found themselves in the forest. They could see some bent branches, crushed leaves, and the sound of sudden splashing had them hurrying towards the small creek they knew was close by. She had been quick to follow, slowing when she saw him kneeling in the chilly creek, and felt her heart seize at the sound of him sobbing.

She knew deep down he was a good man, with a soul that ached to help others, but the hand of cards that fate had played him, their own personal game of Blackjack, had made him into a hard, cold, sadistic man. He was a man who tended to keep to himself, and unless he was making some snarky comment, adding to the ever present chaos, or having a battle of sharpened tongues, he didn't really allow for any deeper emotion to show.

And yet, here he was now, wrist and knee deep in slowly moving water, and choking on sobs that had his entire body shaking. Moving carefully, she eased closer, flapping a hand impatiently at Bix when he tried to catch her arm and pull her back, worried for her safety.

"Erik? Honey? Are you ok?" Lucy asked again, kneeling down on the bank of the creek, past his arms reach just in case, but still close enough to help him if he needed it.

He wanted to lie to her. He wanted to tell her he was all rainbows, and glitter and shit. That he was handling it, whatever the fuck "it" was. He was Erik, aka Cobra, aka previous member of The Oracion Seis, who was a part of the Infinity Clock, and nearly killed the woman kneeling close by to him. Then he handled being a part of Crime Sorciere, and condoning for the idiotic shit he had done, and he handled being pardoned by Hisui right along side his small crazy guild. He handled the fear and nerves of arriving at Fairy Tail, hoping that the offer to join them was still held out there, waiting for him to take it.

But he couldn't handle this, and he couldn't lie to anyone about that, especially not her. Of all of the chaotic, crazy shit he had done in his life, he never lied. He fucking detested liars and refused to be one, and never with her. With her bright fucking, falsely innocent smile that hid just as much behind it as his sadistic grin did for him, if not more so. The big, bright, chocolate doe eyes that rarely hid anything, always so easy to see what she was feeling, a great way to gauge if he needed to kill somebody, or run for the motherfucking hills.

And last of all, the way her soul soothed him, called to him kept him sane when it seemed the rest of the world was going to the insane asylum wrapped up in a self-hugging jacket with buckles and snaps. Smooth rolling waves, a gentle breeze on a cool spring night, not a cloud would dare to be around to block the view of the midnight picnic and show of the gleaming jewels above them. When everything got too loud, and it felt like something was trying to open his head with a log splitter to get a peak inside, he could focus on her soul and pass an entire day without knowing it just nestled into the soothing sound of her soul, with the bit of entertainment thrown in when her teammates did something chaotic once more.

But he couldn't handle this wailing that had started off small, and grown into this full blown orchestra with cymbals included, any more, and he needed help.

Unconsciously still sobbing, whimpers continuing to spill from him, Erik turned his head, still feeling water dripping from his hair, and his soaked form beginning to make him shiver. When he managed to turn his head far enough to see Lucy completely, he saw her gasp and recoil slightly before hurrying forward, and vaguely recognized that he heard Bix start cursing up a storm not too far from them.

"No, Tink, I'm really not ok...I need help...make it stop...please please make this soul stop...it won't leave me alone..." He whimpered, starting to feel dizzy, and for the life of him, he couldn't understand why. He flinched in pain when he felt her slim hands, even the one he had injured, run over his face soothingly, and it wasn't until he felt her hands do a pass under his nose that he felt something on his lips that tasted faintly of copper. Blinking, he saw her pull her hand away, and there he could see a streak of crimson smeared from fingertips to palm, and a lot of it.

It was at that moment that the soul he was hearing reached a new pitch, filled with even more pain than before, and he seized in Lucys arms, eye rolling into the back of his head before succumbing to the embracing darkness, Lucy's cries of fear and Bickslows curses following close on his heels.

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When he came to, it was with whispers around him, and he was stretched out on something soft. That was something that still struck him as odd at times after having spent so many years either sleeping on the hard ground, or cold stone. Warmth was a soothing presence over him, and he felt someone gripping his hand lightly. A testing sniff told him it was Tink, and from her deep steady breathing, he wondered just how long he had been asleep.

"How the fuck long has this been going on?! I can't even hear his thoughts over the damn soul that's been reaching out for help!" A mans voice demanded in a harsh whisper.

"I don't fucking know! I've noticed that he seems to be drinking more, but I know he can't get drunk, so I didn't think much of it!" Another mans voice answered harshly. "And then he hurt Cosplayer the other night, which I know is completely out of character for him and bolted. After Wendy healed her, we followed him, and we sure as hell weren't expecting to find him in a creek, sobbing, with a fountain of a nosebleed, and bleeding ears on top of that!"

"Why didn't you approach him sooner? We could've been here to help, maybe to help pinpoint what it is that he's hearing." A third male, damn had he become part of an orgy and not known it?, asked softly, his voice soothing, and Erik could feel a sense of peace fill the room along with an increased scent of mint and dew.

"Because they couldn't see that anything was wrong, and I didn't let them..." Erik answered, voice husky from the abuse he had put it through, even as he opened his one eyes and scanned the room around him. He could see that Lucy was slumped over, asleep, next to him, using one of her arms and part of his leg as a pillow even as she had a near death grip on his hand, blonde hair piled up in a messy bun. Across the room from him he could see Bix standing with two equally as large men. One had long platinum blonde hair, and from the outfit that he wore, matching to the man with the long black hair, Erik could only assume they were part of some guild.

Before he could think too much into that, the temporary peace he had in his sleep vanished with the wailing soul that returned, slamming into his head with the force of a train, and he cringed, ripping his hand free from Lucy to grip the sides of his head fruitlessly. The whine that escaped him had Lucy jerking upright, immediately awake, even as the men hurried over, Bix's eyes flashing green, the blonde haired mans eyes flaring white, and the black haired mans hands started to glow as they surrounded him, looking for something, anything, that could be causing him this much discomfort.

"What the hell is going on?!" Lucy demanded, watching helplessly as more blood started to spill from Erik's nose, seeing him clench his eye shut even as he clutched at his head. She could see the tension of his jaw, and knew that he was gritting his teeth hard.

"We don't know! Aside from the nosebleed and the tension headache he's getting from gritting his teeth, physically he's fine!" The black haired man growled, eyes flashing silver with worry as he worked over time, trying to get the bleeding to stop, and try to pinpoint what was happening. Instead he couldn't find anything wrong aside from the mans eye, and without thinking twice about it, when he realized there was still enough to work with, he brought it back to full use, but Erik wouldn't know until he opened both eyes for the first time in years.

"Mentally he's going fucking nuts, but for good reason." The platinum blonde hissed, his own face cringing at what he was hearing echoing through Eriks head. As soon as Erik had clamped his hands to his head, he had started seizing again, and he hadn't hesitated to slam him back onto the bed, pinning Erik with a hand to his head to try and pinpoint the wailing that he was sharing with him.

"Do tell then Kaleb because his soul is damn near tearing itself apart, and his dragon is losing it's shit!" Bix snapped, gripping Eriks arms, trying to keep him from thrashing more than he already was, his glowing eyes watching Eriks dual souls thrashing like mad within him.

"There's something, a soul I think, reaching out for help, screaming, and I can only imagine if his dragon is reacting that strongly, then it must be his mate, even if they haven't actually met before." Kaleb grunted when Erik thrashed harder, and a pained, magic boosted roar escaped him, shaking the very foundation and walls of the guild hall.

"Dammit Cris put him under!" Kaleb snarled, honestly shocked at how hard it was to keep Erik from throwing them off of him.

"I'm fucking trying but I can't get to his eyes!" Cris snapped back, hating this feeling of uselessness.

"Erik? Honey? Please if you can hear me, open your eyes!" Lucy called, trying hard not to choke on her own tears as she watched her pseudo brother thrashed against their restraining hands. But something in her tone must have managed to get through to some part of her because in the next instant his eyes, though unfocused and full of pain, flew open, pupils seeming to just pulse. Cris was quick to lean over and catch Eriks eye with his own that flashed silver.

"Sleep Erik!" He rushed out, his voice still smooth, and just like that, Erik went limp in their arms, falling back against the bed he was in. Panting slightly the three men fell back, Kaleb leaning against the wall next to the bed, Cris dropped back on the bed, and Bix merely collapsed to the floor.

"What...the ever loving...fuck...was that?" A deep voice demanded, and they turned to find the other slayers of Fairy Tail frozen at the door to the infirmary, Laxus in the lead. Wendy and Natsu were flanking him, even as Gajeel stood just behind them. Sighing, Cris lifted a hang, gesturing them to come closer. They were quick to do so, moving quietly so as to not disturb the sleeping slayer, and watched the visitors closely.

"Quick introductions, Kaleb and Cristoff Pradesh, meet the Fairy Tail slayers, Laxus Dreyar, Wendy Marvel, Natsu Dragneel, and Gajeel Redfox. The one you just had to force to sleep? Erik Vivas. Now that we've got that out of the way, what can you tell us Kaleb?" Bix asked bluntly, surprising everyone with how serious he was being in that moment.

"I can't tell you much." Kaleb stated with a frown, his brow creasing in thought. "I'm a mind bender, I don't hear souls like he does. But whatever is happening, to whoever it is that he's hearing, is bad enough that it's causing him mental trauma. His dragons soul isn't helping any either, which leads me to believe that the soul he's hearing is his mates, but from what I can tell, he hasn't met them before."

"How is that even possible then? We have to meet our mates to know that they even are our mates." Gajeel asked, completely confused.

"I don't know. All I know is that I don't hear souls but I hear minds, so in extension, at that point, I can hear souls, through him, and this soul that's he's been hearing, for a while now, it's breaking." Kaleb answered with a shrug before lifting his hands to grip his hair as he started to pace, mind racing as he tried to think of the implications of this. "There is something happening, something that is traumatic enough for whoever that soul is attached to, that in its desperation it is literally screaming for help, and it's reaching him. It just so happens that this time, his dragon soul was able to recognize the soul for who it is, and it's going insane, wanting to go after it."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Lucy asked, shifting to press against Bix's side even as she reached up to grip Eriks limp hand.

"There might be something, but it's going to take me a few days to get the items needed. Once I have them, I can explain how the things work, but then I have to get back to White Sea, at least for the time being. When I do, I want updates on the progress. I think he's going to have to go after that soul to help whoever it is, and Bix? I want you with Lucy and Cris to go with him. He's going to need help with sleeping and anything else." Kaleb explained. Rolling his head one way then the other, he felt his neck pop before striding from the room without looking back. If he had, if he hadn't already been so focused on his next task, he would've seen the flinch of pain that flashed across Eriks face, and the trickle of blood that started leaking from his ear.

And he definitely would've heard the desperate wail of 'Kaleb' as it pounded through Eriks head.


	2. Chapter 2

TRIGGER WARNING: I am letting you know now, the first part of this chapter is rather dark, contains death and imprisonment of children, please don't kill me! It's part of the plot! Please remember to read AND review, its the bread and butter for us writers!

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Chapter 2

She was sitting in the dark, leaning back against the cold damp stone of the cell she had been thrown into, the sound of steady deep breaths around her. Her arms were wrapped around the small shivering body of a child, tucked securely into her lap, and absently running calming hands over their back. She had lost track of time by now, her long dark hair was a tangled mess, parts of it matted with dried blood, dirt, and sweat. Her clothes reflected her time there, heavy with the same things that caked her hair, as well as parts of it being torn.

When she had come to this village, it had been to help those who were sick, especially the children. She had heard about the village in passing, had just finally finished her schooling, and officially carried the title of a pediatrician. She had been wandering, looking for a place to settle down as she had headed in the direction of home, when she had heard the whispers of a village that was dying out due to some odd sickness, so naturally, being a doctor, she had changed course to come help.

She hadn't expected to come across a few warring tribes, two that had banned together to take out the strongly thriving one. Her disgust and anger had been short lived, as she had seen fighting adults, getting ready to turn around and leave, when it had morphed into horror at the sight of a child being cut down outside of the group of bushes that she had taken cover in at the first sounds of fighting she had come across. The gasp that had torn itself from her had been heard, and the next thing she had known, she was being pulled from the bushes by her hair, her cry of anger and pain ignored, even as she clawed at the arm that relentlessly pulled her out. Bile had risen strongly to the back of her mouth as she had been dragged past the now dead child, and through the rapidly spreading pool of blood.

Minutes had passed, and for every time that she had managed to start to fight back, pulling her body up to try and kick at her attacker, the mans other hand swung around to back hand her, leaving her ears ringing, and when she started to gather her magic, a heavy duty magic canceling cuff was slapped on her. By the time he had shoved his way through all of the fighting, pulling her behind him where she was fallen on, trampled, kicked, and injured repeatedly in a variety of ways, she was clinging to consciousness, hoping to find some way to make it out of this situation alive. She found herself thrown to the middle of a gathered group of fighters leering down at her. Lifting her lip in a silent snarl, she worked to keep her breathing calm, keep her senses open to all of those around her.

A moment had passed before what she could only assume was a rather cocky fighter reached out to her, only to get shoved aside as an older man stepped forward to kneel down, holding a glowing hand out over her that had her crying out in pain. The magic felt intrusive, wasn't gentle in whatever it was searching for, and because her magic was blocked, she couldn't fight against it. She snarled, kicking out at the man, bearing her teeth in a feral manner at those around her, before cursing at them all in the many languages she had learned over the years to help her in her work. Moments passed, rough dirtied hands still hovering over her before the man shifted back, a malicious grin creasing his face as he dropped his hands, and when his dark, cruel, cold eyes caught hers, she had to fight the urge to shudder. When his words washed over her, she felt a wave of cold fear rush through her.

"Sorry boys, we're not going to be able to touch this one. Instead, she'll be a handy tool for us. She's a healer, which means she can keep herself from being a breeding bitch for us. But if we leave her be, keep her here, she can keep us healthy so we can continue with our plans, easing further into Bosco."

"Fuck you asshole, I wouldn't even give two shits if the lot of you raped each other then tore your own throats out!" She snarled, arching hard to swing her leg up and around, aiming for the side of the mans head. The feel of his large filthy hand catching her ankle had her seething, even as she narrowed her burning aquamarine eyes at him.

"That may be, but a little birdie," He paused as a wave of chuckles swept through the crowd before continuing. "Told me that you have a sweet, soft spot for children. And I would absolutely HATE for anything to happen to the village children we have locked away." The fake sweet tone of his voice told her clearly that he would love nothing more than to kill every one of the children locked away somewhere in the village they were in. Hearing these words, she froze, lips pressing into a thin line even as she wished more than anything that the fire she knew was flashing in her eyes would burn away everyone around her.

"Now, here's the deal girlie. We won't kill or rape you, or the children, if you heal our major injuries, broken bones, stab or sword wounds, the like. We won't count small scratches, save your energy for possible or real life threatening wounds, infections. Keep us in top fighting shape. But if you don't, for every bit outside of uninfected wounds that you don't heal, we'll kill a child, right in front of you, in any way we desire, even raping them. You let any of us die from a wound, or battle, anything short of a beheading, and we'll kill a child. If you try to escape, or fight us, that's another child dead. You try to call for help? Another one dead." Dropping her leg, he was quick to reach out and grip her jaw in a hand, turning her head one way, then another, smirking.

"Oh yes, we know who you are. You've been making a mighty fine name for yourself Xally Pradesh, daughter of Ambassador Arman Pradesh, sister to the great mind bender and White Sea Guild Master Kaleb Pradesh. Well, us from Pergrande have our own mind reader, and while those cuffs are on, you won't be able to keep him out, so we'll know if you reach for your brother. You do that and all of the children will die, right along side you."

"What happened to the tribes that were here? And who the fuck are you?" Xally managed to make herself heard through gritted teeth, and the grip on her cheeks.

"We're from Pergrande, we've been planning this for ages pet. These two tribes, so close to each other, and so close to the border, so peaceful, were beyond easy to over power in the middle of the night, their screams like music, their blood like wine, and we took the children and locked them away. Just as we will with you. Now be a good little healer, and get ready to help us take over Bosco." With a sharp smack to her face, the man rose to his feet and strode away, the crowd parting before her, even as she was pulled in the opposite direction, and shortly thrown into a cloth covered metal cart with other children. It wasn't until the door was swinging shut behind her that she realized she had seen three other carts like the one she was in. Blinking her eyes to adjust to the dimness of the covered cart, she felt her eyes burn with tears at the sight of many small, tear streaked, scared faces staring back at her.

Doing a quick headcount, she felt her mouth go dry, even as her eyes widened before she sat down hard, back against the door that had been dead bolted. Fifty children, they had managed to fit fifty children in this cart, and if they had managed to fit the same amount of children in the other carts she had seen, that was easily two hundred children. And she had to keep them safe.

Now, as she sat in the dark of one of the large holding cells that she and the many other children had been thrown into, she fought to keep her mind blank, not wanting to chance a plea for help to escape to her brother Kaleb. That had nearly happened once, and the result had been the death of the youngest child, barely two years old. The man who had loomed over her at the beginning had looked her straight on, and with a malicious smile, had gripped the childs head and twisted it quickly, the babys body falling limp to the floor as soon as he had let go. The screams from the surrounding children now haunted her dreams, and she had choked on the fire of her pain, her anger, even as it swelled strongly in her chest, but she had choked it back. She wanted to lash out him, but she could do nothing outside of her power swelling up against the cuffs that trapped her.

Since then, they had been steadily working their way deeper into Bosco, her home land, and every time, they had over taken each tribe they had come across in the middle of the nights. Every morning she had been pulled through the villages to heal the men killing the tribes, watching as they gathered more children, feet now caked in layers of dirt, mud, and blood. They had eventually reached this village where an old castle had been made into the home for the villagers, and she had thought that those villagers would've had a chance. Instead, the Pergrande men were just as vicious as before, and swept through like a plague. Once they had cleared the castle out, they had moved her and the many children, now close to three hundred, to the dungeons in the belly of the building, and she passed the time trying to absently sooth whatever children she ended up with, even as she fought the now endless pain rolling through her very soul.

She had lost track of time, and only wanted to see her family again, be safe, and make the nightmares go away. Along the way, more children had been lost, for various reasons, mostly when a Pergrande man had died under her hands as she tried to heal him. She had tried to argue that there was only so much she could do, depending on the severity of the wound, and where the levels of her magic were. But they hadn't listened. And for every man that had died during her attempts to heal them, another child had died. And then for every child that had died, more had been captured from the other villages that were razed to the ground.

Hearing a small whimper from the child in her lap, she was quick to tighten her arms, pulling the small child closer. If only there was someone who could hear her, or the children. This nightmare needed to end before Pergrande made it to the larger cities, to her home. Letting her head fall back against the brick once more, she didn't feel the tears leaking down her cheeks, for she had gone numb, and prayed.

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The fire was crackling, embers sparking and popping, the light of the flames dancing over the gathered mages. They were all quiet, watchful of the mage who sat on the other side of the fire by himself. A few weeks prior, they had been instructed to start following the pull of the soul that was causing such pain for Erik, and of course, stubbornly, he had at first tried to say he would go alone. Thankfully Bix's brother, Kaleb, guildmaster of White Sea, had overridden him, and assigned Bix and Lucy to go with him, hoping to be able to help.

Now, a few weeks later, they were near the border of Fiore, camping in a clearing of the forest that met the border, still following the pull, and following Eriks direction.

"Has it eased up any Erik?" Lucy finally asked quietly, brown eyes full of concern as she stared over the flames at the man who had claimed her as kin.

"No. If anything, the closer we get, the stronger and louder it is. If Kaleb hadn't given me this lacrima, I'd like be suffering a great deal more of the headaches from before." Erik stated, eyes focused on the flames, a stick in his hand as he jabbed at the burning wood, causing the flames to flare higher. It still bothered him that he had had his choice taken away when he had been instructed to follow this tortured soul. He had tried to fight it, saying that he would be fine with lacrima he had been given, and that he would move faster alone. The look however, that he had been given by Kaleb after that had stopped any further arguments, and without a word he had left the guild, Bix and Lucy scrambling to catch up.

He had been lucky that it had been them going with because Cris and Kaleb had had to go back to Bosco, but Bix kept them up to date on his over all state of being, while Lucy's spirit, Virgo, kept them in comfort, bringing them food and shelter so that they could focus on him. It wasn't until they were gone for a week that he begun to appreciate that they were there. They had come across some bandits, and with how distracted he was with the soul screaming out to him, he hadn't heard them sneaking up on them. It wasn't until Virgo had appeared in a burst of gold, landing rather solidly on the one that had been about to grab Erik who had been walking behind Bix and Lucy, that they even realized what had happened.

The fight after that had been short lived, Erik happily taking out his anger on the ambushing mages. It wasn't until later, when they had dropped the bandits off at a nearby village that they had been informed that this group had been causing problems for a while, and they were able to collect a reward for stopping them. He hadn't cared though, and handed the reward off to Bix and Lucy, merely wanting to continue on their trip. He figured the sooner he found and helped this soul the better off he would be. As it was, right now his own soul he knew was in shambles, and his heart quite simply ached, and wished there was some way to help get this thing, whatever it was, handled quicker.

As he stared into the fire though, barely paying any attention to those on the other side, he heard the soul seem to fade just a touch more, and the sound of something smooth sliding across the ground caught his attention, drawing his eyes off to the left, brow furrowing in confusion as he sent his magic out, trying to pinpoint what he was hearing. He could tell it was something large, and the way it sounded on the ground made him think of scales. He took a moment to mentally wish that it wasn't an animal getting ready to attack them, as he just did not have the patience for it today. Then he found it in the shadows of the bushes at the edge of the clearing.

Eyes the size of his fists, gleaming a bright green and filled with what he could see was clear intelligence peered out from under a bush, the shadows hiding the rest of it. The eyes were filled with humor, intelligence, and no fear. Tilting his head in curiosity, Erik was quick to rise to his feet, drawing the attention of his guildmates as he strode to the bush and crouched down, holding out a welcoming hand, waiting patiently. He figured the worse that would happen was that he would be eaten right before Lucy and Bix killed whatever this thing was.

"Excuse me! I'll have you know I don't eat humans, they don't taste right, plus the clothes get in the way."

He yelped.

He wasn't so proud that he couldn't admit that he full on yelped as he jerked back, falling on his ass in shock at hearing a rather deep mature voice answer what he knew had been mental. He absently noted that he heard Lucy and Bix jump to their feet, preparing themselves to attack if needed, but waiting for his direction. Blinking in shock, Erik scrambled backwards a few feet, watching as the eyes he saw blinked from their hiding spot. The tip of a rather large gold and dark blue, almost black, scaled nose eased out from it's hiding spot, and the shadows slid away from the rather...massive...head that peeked out at him, a long forked tongue darting out to taste the air.

"Uh...nice snake? Nice...big...snake?" Lucy whispered, gulping, hand tightening around the hilt of her whip on her hip, and reaching for her keys with her other. She could feel Bix next to her, tense and waiting with his babies floating around them, ready and willing to attack if need be. When one bright green eye shifted to look at her, she swore she could see blunt disdain before it rolled and focused back on Erik.

"Nathair. My name is Nathair. I've been following you lot for a while now, getting a feel for what or who you are. Obviously you're decent otherwise I never would've shown myself to you."

"Don't lie to us." Erik snapped, sitting up slightly, eye narrowing on the massive snake head in front of him. Nathair blinked, tilting his head slightly as he blinked.

"Ok, so definitely not as stupid as I was worried you'd be." Nathair drawled, tongue flicking out in silent laughter. "So let me restate that. Obviously you're all decent, otherwise I never would've shown myself to you. Instead I would've killed you at least, slayer, to get that lacrima out of you and back to where it belongs if you'd been some of those disgusting dark mages I've come across in my travels."

"I can hear you, your soul, so I knew you were lying even as you did it." Erik snapped, baring his teeth at the snake.

"For the record, I'm not just a snake, and I'm on your side, so pull your panties out of the wedgie up your ass." Nathair huffed, rolling his eyes and easing further into the clearing, following the edge of it until he met the end of his tail, resting his chin on it, and it was then that the fairy tail mages realized just how big Nathair was. The clearing when they had come upon it had easily been sixty feet in circumference, and this snake, with its gold and dark blue scales was easily longer than that, since his head was overlapping his tail

"Damn toxic breath...I think he might have you beat on snark!" Bix snickered, easing forward to crouch down and clap a hand on Eriks shoulder. Erik could hear that it was an additional safety precaution, ready to get Erik out of the way if...Nathair decided to attack.

"Oh please, like I don't hear that. I'm not your typical snake, I can hear that you think I'm going to attack you, but I'm not, I've got a bigger reason for finding you, and before you ask, no, I can't tell you yet, and no, you're not going to be able to hear it either Erik." Nathair said with another flicker of his tongue.

"How the hell do you know my name?!" Erik demanded, surging to his feet to stalk closer to the snake, not even flinching when Nathair lifted his head to meet Eriks gaze straight on.

"I told you, poison dick, I'm not your typical snake, I'm not deaf, plus I've been following ya for a while, it's not my fault you didn't hear before now."

When Erik merely growled, baring dripping poisonous fangs and lifting dripping claws, getting ready to attack, hearing Lucy and Bix shift to help, Nathair merely raised up further, towering over the three of them, fangs glistening in the firelight as he hissed and extended the rather...large...leathery wings...that overshadowed them. Erik was just about to launch himself at the damn snake when Bix slammed into him from the side, catching him off guard and toppling him to the ground. The cursing that exploded from Erik had Nathair blinking and easing back down, watching them closely in some amusement.

"What the ever loving fuck you fucking soul fucker!?" Erik demanded, twisting to throw a punch into the side of his head. When Lucy's whip lashed out to catch his wrist and yank his hand away though, Erik snarled further, sending a glare towards the firm staring he was getting from Lucy.

"Erik stop! He's telling the truth!" Bix cursed, quickly rolling away to avoid poisoned teeth and claws.

"What the fuck do you mean?!" Erik demanded, reaching to grasp the whip in his now free hand and hissing when he was burned. Suddenly he was very glad for his long sleeved jacket protecting his trapped wrist.

"The soul that's been driving you insane! Is it as loud as it has been?" Bix asked, shifting to sit upright and glare at the still snarling poison slayer. At the mention of that soul though, Erik froze, turning a shocked gaze on him before focusing on the soul, and ultimately the pain that had been plaguing him for weeks. A moment passed before Erik shifted, looking at the once more calm Nathair, trying to hear anything at all, but beyond the repeated mantra of being there to help, he wasn't getting anything.

"No...the soul isn't as loud...what the hell is going on twinkle toes?" Erik asked bluntly, keeping his eyes on the rather large snake in front of him. Who rolled his vibrant green eyes once more.

"Again, I'm not your typical snake, I'd think you'd get that by now."

"Then what the hell fucking kind of snake are you?!"

"He's a Harvarti Serpent, usually found in certain parts of Bosco, they're not native to Fiore. But...he's bigger...smarter and stronger magically...How the hell did you end up here?" Bix asked, staring in shock at the wings that were still shifting and stirring up bits of dust. As soon as he has seen those wings flare out, he had known what Nathair was, but he didn't understand how one had gotten so far from Bosco, his homeland.

"You're right, I am a Harvati Serpent, but...more. And I was sent here to look for the poison lacrima that holds a part of my adopted fathers soul and was torn from him many years ago."

"Wait...oh you've got to be kidding me!" Lucy breathed, dropping her whip, and it's magic, in shock. When Nathair looked at her and merely smiled, shaking his head, Lucy turned and pounced on Erik with a squeal causing him to yelp even as he instinctively caught her. "Erik this is amazing!"

"Ok ok, what the hell am I missing here?" Erik demanded, mind racing as he tried to take in everything that was happening.

"Erik...Nathair is your brother!" Lucy was quick to turn and face Nathair once more, still in Erik's lap. "You were drawn here right? By the lacrima? And you said it was made from the soul of your adopted father?"

"That is correct. I was asked, or volun-told, to come looking for it and bring it back. If it was in a dark mages possession, I was to kill the dark mage and bring the lacrima back by itself, or if it was in a decent mage, I was to leave it be in the mage, help the mage if possible, but try and bring the mage back. My father wants to meet him, apologize for not being there before if need be, but he had to go into hiding after he barely managed to escape from when that single lacrima was taken from him." Nathair paused to run an eye over Erik before flicking his tongue out once more. "Though if I'd known it'd be in such a snarky asshole, I might've tried to get out of this."

"Hey!" Erik snapped, growling slightly, but subsiding when Lucy ran soothing through his hair.

"The point being, Erik, I looked and your soul isn't going as nuts as it has been, it's calmed some, and your dragon soul is reflected in Nathairs, it's reaching out for each other. This could be your version of Happy or Lily, only much cooler, and much more deadly. Plus, he matches your snarky attitude damn near perfectly." Bix explained, eyes glowing slightly as he looked between Erik and Nathair. Thankfully, Bix didn't notice the quick, appraising glance given to him by Nathair, as he had been looking at Erik at the time.

"If this is true, why didn't he try to find me sooner?" Erik asked, keeping his arms wrapped around Lucy to keep himself calm.

"He had to go into hiding because of Acnologia, but I'm more easily looked over since there are more Harvarti Serpents around then dragons now. And before you ask, his name is Venenum. He's rather snarky actually, like you, and a complete flirt." Nathair said absently, like the last comment was an after thought.

"Alright, say this is all true, and you're here to take me back to meet him, what do we do from here? There's a soul I'm tracking down to help, and while I question their own sanity over it, there are a few friends of mine who believe that the soul reaching out is my mate, and I need to get to them. So while I'd be more than happy to go meet the dragon who I became a slayer through, I need to finish this job first."

"Oh! That's not a problem, my father is very patient, so we can take care of your job first, I might even be able to help with traveling since, you know wings and all." Nathair said, lifting his wings in what could only be called a shrug.

"We should get some sleep then, we'll leave at dawn." Lucy stated, rising to her feet, and grabbing Bix's arm, she was quick to pull him to his feet then to their tent, shoving him inside when he tried to argue about going to bed so soon. Silence fell and Nathair lowered his head, tucking his wings in against his body and closing his eyes, even as Erik settled near the fire once more, keeping a weary eye on the giant snake nearby. Then he realized something.

"You're a snake! How the hell are you able to blink or close your eyes?!" Erik demanded, leaning forward, watching closely as, indeed, an eye the color of vibrant new leaves, popped open and shifted to look at him, amusement clear.

"I told you before, maybe you'll learn to listen before the end of this journey. I'm not your typical harvarti serpent. I was raised from hatching, by dragons, I've absorbed their magic, and it's changed me ever so slightly, allowing me to do things that none of the others of my kind can do, like actually verbally talking. And as your friend mentioned before, I'm a good deal larger than others of my kind as well. If it wasn't for my parents, I'd only be able to communicate mentally, and like you said, wouldn't be able to blink or close my eyes." Nathair answered, flicking his tongue out again in a silent laugh.

"Wait, parents? You only mentioned your father, Venenum, what about your mother?"

"That, dear brother of mine, is a story for another time. I'd suggest getting some sleep, I'll hear if someone approaches, and let you know." With that, Nathair shifted a wing and tucked his head under it, giving his words a sense of finality.

"Nathair?" Crickets.

"Nathair?!" A breeze through the leaves.

"Dammit Nathair I know you can't be asleep already!" Steady deep breathing. "Fucking damn asshole snake!"

It was going to be a long night.


	3. Chapter 3

When dawn broke through the trees, it was the quiet hiss of scales against dirt that had Erik jerking upright from where he had fallen asleep, blinking a bleary eye at his surroundings. As his mind caught up with his eye, and he let out a jaw cracking yawn, one hand reached down to brace himself...and froze when he felt rather large, smooth, scales under his palm.

He swore he could hear his body creaking like a hinge that badly needed oiling as he slowly turned and lifted his gaze to meet glowing green ones filled with amusement. Hearing a faint clicking sound, Erik was quick to spin around, letting out a startled yelp when the force of it had him going too far and sprawling over the long body of the snake that he had unknowingly curled up against the night before. Glowering with bared fangs, Erik turned his head only this time at another faint clicking sound, and found Lucy standing not too far away with her lacrima in her hands pointed directly at him. And her lips pressed suspiciously tight together.

Narrowing his eye at her further, he heard a choking sound next, and looked past Lucy to her soul dick of a boyfriend who was bent over slightly, hands braced on his knees as he watched them. Erik knew, he just knew, that Bix was choking on laughter at his expense, and he did not appreciate it.

Not. One. Bit.

Feeling his adopted brothers ire at the dark blue and black haired mage, Nathair smirked slightly, and keeping his eyes resting on Erik so as to not draw attention to himself, Nathair was quick to lash the end of his tail out, catching Bix's ankles, toppling him to the ground with a solid thud, and yelp that echoed around the clearing. His scowl quickly turned into a grin, and Erik shifted to his feet, running a gentle hand over the scales that he had been leaning on. Rolling his head on his shoulders, Erik turned to face Nathair once more, still cautious about his sudden appearance the night before.

"So. What do we do from here? Since you're the new comer." Erik asked, crossing his arms over his chest, narrowing his eyes in speculation.

"I'm following your lead here, you're the one who's hearing that someone is in trouble."

"Yea but you can hear me apparently, so can you at least tell us if we're heading in the right direction?" Erik huffed, twisting his head one way then another, popping his neck to relieve some of the tension that had built up in it, and trying to ignore the pain starting to resonate in his head once more. Narrowing his eyes on the poison slayer, Nathair eased closer, lowering his head as he focused on Erik. It took a moment, but as soon as he was able to sort through the pain resonating in the dragons soul, and Eriks own, the tortured screaming pierced his skull and he recoiled quickly, shaking his head and hissing in discomfort, blinking, trying to get his bearings before staring at the man who shared his fathers magic in awe.

"I-is that what you've been hearing?" Nathair murmured, mind racing, and one of the few times cursing the magic that had permeated his egg from before hatching and growing up with the magic that made him so different. Blinking at the snake that was watching him in worry, Erik swallowed and nodded. "It's...it's going to get worse...that lacrima is helping right now...but the closer we get, the less it will...it's going to get worse...and there's more to this than we originally thought. Get moving, the three of you. I need to make a call, I'll catch up with you. I'm asking you to trust me, which I know is a lot." Nathair said firmly, turning and running his gaze over the surrounding area, trying to find a good spot that he could use to reach out to who he needed.

 _'Bix, I need you to listen to me, don't react, just act normal, but I need who to look at my soul. I'm going to let you see something that the others, especially Erik, aren't ready to know yet.'_ Nathair reached out, keeping his eyes narrowed and continuing to shift his eyes. He knew now he would have to reach out from here, but he needed them gone. He felt Bix minutely tense before getting an affirmative pulse of magic.

 _'Good. Take a look at my soul, at the other part of the magic that is a part of who I am. You'll know its signature very well, small world right? We need him here, you know who I'm talking about. I need you to get them going.'_ Nathair paused, ignoring the speculative looks he was getting from Erik, even as he saw Bix activate his eyes as they began to glow faintly. Turning his head to face Bix completely, he saw the seith mage pale significantly, and his jaw drop. _'So much for not reacting. Look, keep heading the direction you've been going in. I was able to figure out who the person looking for help is, but there's something wrong, she shouldn't be where she is. Now go, we're running out of time!'_

With that said, Nathair shifted his gaze to Erik and Lucy who were watching them both closely, their own eyes moving between the two of them.

"There's no time to explain, the three of you need to get moving. We need to help the person reaching out, and Erik, I can tell you right now, yes it's your mate. I'll explain more about the mate thing later, but you have to go , now!" Nathair started to lunge at them, causing them to yelp and jump back to avoid falling.

"But what about you?!" Erik demanded, managing to plant his feet. He didn't know what was happening, but his instincts were going nuts, and the feeling in the pit of his stomach was making him nauseous. He had felt Nathair slam further walls up around his thoughts, and he had known he and Bix were having a silent conversation, from the way Bix had paled to a sheet white.

"I'll catch up, I can promise you that, just go!"

"But our things!" Lucy stammered, trying to figure out what was going on. Hissing in frustration, Nathair swung his head back to Bix, using the card he hadn't wanted to play, but there wasn't time.

 _'Bix, you know who I am now, who my parents are, so you know that I know who you and your family are. Bickslow, it's Xally, you have to go, NOW!'_

The strangled whimper that escaped him at that point had Erik and Lucy's full attention, not knowing what to do, until he sprinted past them, grabbing their arms and dragging them with him, pulling yelps and curses.

"Lucy, send Virgo for our things, we have to get to Bosco and fast!" Bix snarled, drawing on his babies to gather in front of them and they began to flow, sending out shots of energy to clear the path in front of them of any obstacles. He took the lead, running ahead of them, not bothering to look back at the increase of magic that was coming from behind them.

Erik, however, had no issues looking back over his shoulder, just in time to see what appeared to be a rip in space appear, with a dark blue dragon head appearing in the opening before a bend in the path cut them off. After that Erik turned his gaze back to the path in front of him, questions flooding his mind at what he had seen. There was something bigger than he knew of happening, and he had a feeling that the soul he was hearing was going to at some point be at the center of it all.

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Back at the clearing Nathair curled up on himself and uttered the spell he had been taught before he left, watching as a swirl of magic appeared before him and cleared, showing him a moment of blue sky, green trees, and vibrant flowers. Taking a deep breath, he knew there was no way to really brace against the news that he was about to give his parents.

"Nathair? Son, what are you doing, you know this was to be used only in emergencies." A deep voice gently admonished as a dragon with maroon scales appeared, and bright green eyes appeared in the clear space.

"Venenum stop, of course he knows, so surely there's an emergency." A gentle feminine reprimanded even as Venenum ducked from view with a wince.

"Sorry my love."

"It's not me you have to apologize to, it's Nathair, but I'm sure that can wait until later. Now, Nathair, darling, what's the matter? Have you run into any trouble? You know you can come back if you need to and go back to looking for the your fathers lacrima later."

"Mother, father, please, I must hurry. I found the lacrima, it's actually in a Fairy Tail mage."

"Ooh I've heard good things about them, and I think their mages might be on par with White Sea when it comes to looks for their mages." Venenum hummed, his voice sounding rather intrigued. "And they're good mages, so that's a double plus..."

Sighing, Nathair shook his head at his mother, eyes imploring to let him finish. There was the sound of a yelp and then silence, and not once did his mother silver eyes leave his.

"I've quieted your father young one, now tell me, what's happening?"

"As I said, I've found the lacrima in a Fairy Tail mage, his name is Erik Vivas. He is also a sound mage, can hear souls. He's traveling right now, tracking down a soul that has, quite literally been driving him to the brink of actual insanity with it's tormented screams. I'm going to be going with them to help find the mage. But it's become a bit more complicated than we thought it would be."

"Oh dear...he's going to need help after this...and how is it complicated?"

"In an attempt to help him, I focused in on him, and the soul crying out for help. Mother...I was pulled into the soul, it's desperate for help. I was able to find out the area she's in, and get an idea as to what's been happening but...she's calling out for her family. One of which is already on their way to her, I sent him ahead with Erik and a celestial spirit mage, Lucy Heartfilia."

"Wait, did you say Lucy Heartfilia?" Large silver eyes blinked in shock.

"Yes I did, but mother, there's more. I don't know exactly what is happening, but it's Xally, mother. It was Bickslow with Erik who I sent ahead. I told them to get to the border as quickly as they could, and I'd meet up with them.

"Bickslow? Xally? As in Pradesh?" The whispered words had Nathair gulping, knowing that the anger that was sure to take over his mother would have many woodland creatures running for cover.

"I was able to connect with Bix, I recognized him immediately from your stories. I told him who I was, and who was calling out. I only figured out who it was because she was calling out to everyone in the family. I don't know how, but she was able to pull me through to her, and I was able to look out through her eyes for a split moment. She was in front of some type of reflective surface. She's surrounded by children, and I saw some of her memories. I don't know where exactly she is, but I know the area. It's Pergrande, she was captured by Pergrande, and they're in Bosco." Nathair rushed out, and for a moment he feared that her anger would make it past the opening between them. As it was, when his mothers eyes lightened further, he cringed, and was glad that his father was mated to her as it was the only thing keeping him from getting harmed.

He watched as she took a couple of deep breaths, before ducking out of view. Blinking, he saw his father ease into view with a worried look, ducking as various things started flying by him. A bush. A heavy chest. A crown. A throne. Another crown. A couple of heavy books that Venenum was quick to catch. Another slightly larger throne.

"Uh...Do I-" Nathair stopped when Venenum quickly shook his head and ducked back out of view, his mother appearing once more. Then Nathair quickly ducked as something small and silver looking flew through the opening and nearly ended up hitting him in the head. Hearing a slight tinktink as it hit the ground, he looked down, blinking at the key and the familiar design at the top of it.

"Why are you giving me dad's key?" Nathair asked blankly.

"You have a member of the Heartfilia line with you, who is a celestial mage. He has heard about her, and wants her to have his key. Hurry and get back to them, they're going to need all they help they can get with getting Xally back, and give the celestial mage his key. Honestly you'll probably end up getting drowned in happy tears as soon as you give it to her. Keep up posted on what's going on, but go, they can't move as fast as you can fly, help them get to Xally."

"Mother...there's one other thing."

"What's that?"

"Xally is...well...Xally is Erik's mate. And I don't know how much longer she has before her soul breaks, and I don't know that's going to effect Erik."

"Oh well isn't that just wonderful...dammit! Get to them, get them to Bosco, follow her souls call, and help them. Bix is probably already reaching out to his family for assistance."

"What about the two of you?"

"It's not time for us to reveal ourselves yet, but if absolutely needed, we may be able to help. Now go, keep in touch as you can, it's obvious there's more going on then expected."

"Alright. I miss you both."

"Oh darling, we miss you too. You'll see us again soon enough. Now go."

"Yes mother, see you soon." With that Nathair closed the viewing window and quickly scooped up the key on the ground with the tip of his tail, tucking it behind one of his scales and wedging it into place. Giving himself a quick shake, he stretched out his wings, and with a powerful surge, shot into the air, heading in the same direction as the others, looking for an opening that would allow him to duck down and scoop them up as well. He wanted to believe that they were over thinking everything, but the feeling he had told him that was far from the case.

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He was pushing himself, he knew he was, and while there was a small part of him was worried about the ban for seith mages in Bosco, the moment he had heard one of his sisters names come from thatt giant snake, the fear he felt for her far outweighed any fear he had for himself. His lungs were aching, his legs burning, and eyes itching with the tears he refused to let fall. There were so many possibilities of what had happened, none of them were good, if what Nathair said was true. He could hear Erik and Lucy not too far behind him, racing against the clock to reach the border of Bosco.

If it was his sister Xally, if it was her soul screaming out for help, but hadn't tried to reach out mentally for Kaleb, there was only so many things Bix could think of that would drive Xally not to do that. But he didn't waste much time dwelling on that, knowing he would have a harder time focusing if he did. Instead, he tapped into the mental link that was shared just within his family, not caring how frantic it came across to them.

 _'KALEB! Kaleb I know you can hear me!'_ Bix shouted mentally, never slowing his sprinting pace, promising those following him that he would find some way to make all of this sprinting up to them.

 _'Bix? Bix, what's going on?'_ Kalebs voice was quick to respond, worry and confusion clear in his mental voice.

 _'I need you to link me with everyone except for Xally, it'll explain everything!'_ Adding another mark to the growing list of times that Bix was grateful that Kaleb was able to do something like this.

 _'Alright, done, what's going on Bix?'_ Kaleb asked again.

 _'Bix? Son, what's happening?'_ Arman's voice sounded loud and clear through Bix's head, and he swallowed hard. He could only imagine how his father was going to take this bit of news.

 _'Whoa, family meeting much? A little warning would've been nice ya know!'_ Vander snarked, followed by a sigh.

 _'Shut it, all of you!'_ Bix shouted into the link, causing what few mutters were happening to cut off.

 _'Bickslow, what's going on?'_ Arman asked again into the silence, voice braced and calm.

 _'Kaleb, I need you to share my memories, starting about ten minutes ago, and for the love of all that is good and holy, keep comments to yourself after, we need to plan!'_ Bix snapped, starting to pant. He knew he was pushing himself too hard, but his drive to see his family safe was more important to him He felt the tap of power into his memories, and pushed what he had seen with Nathair to the forefront of his mind, making it easier to access. He heard the gasps of shock, the curses of mounting anger, and then he heard the anguished roars from two dragon slayers realizing their family, their kin, was in trouble.

 _'Bix, where are you?'_ Arman demanded, the growl in his voice causing the rest of his family to shiver. Arman may have been an Ambassador for Bosco, a peacekeeper, but that didn't mean he didn't know how to bring down the might of Bosco on anyone who dared to go against them.

 _'I'm on my way to the Fiore border, I'm getting to Bosco as quickly as I can, but it's still going to take us-shit!'_ Bix mentally cursed even as he yelped when he found himself getting flung into the air by a rather blunt nose, but years of practice kicked in, and he tucked himself mid-air, seeing the flying body of Nathair below him. He was quick to adjust his body and managed to land on Nathairs rather wide back, legs hooking around the front of his gliding wings to keep himself in place.

 _'Bix?! Bickslow!'_ Overlapping worried voices echoed through his head, and Bix winced for a moment before managing to respond.

 _'I'm alright, I'm alright, Lucy, Erik and I just got picked up, literally, by Nathair. We're heading for the border of Fiore, but I don't know how long it's going to take to get to Bosco, it's going to be about a week at least unless someone can come get us!'_ Bix cursed at how long it would take to get to Bosco, and how hard it was to hold onto the rather slick scales under himself.

 _'Hope you don't mind if I cut in, but I can get us there faster.'_ Nathair projected into Bix's mind, his mental voice being easily picked up on the family link.

 _'Bix? Who was that?!'_ Kaleb demanded, not being able to see through his brothers eyes for whatever reason at the moment.

 _'That's Nathair, sorry Kaleb, flying right now, little hard on the eyes with no barriers to protect against the wind!'_ Bix explained keeping his eyes squeezed shut.

 _'Nathair, you said you can get them here faster?'_ Arman spoke up, bringing the shocked mutters to a stop again.

 _'Yes but I need you to trust that I'll get them there in one piece, because the way I'm going to make it happen is going to cut the connection until we get there.'_ Nathair confirmed, moving at a much faster speed then the mages had been managing when running on the ground.

 _'Alright, do you know how to get here?'_ Arman asked, and from the tone of his voice, Bix could tell that he was already working on getting things together for help from the knights of Immaculate Light, and from White Sea mages.

 _'Mostly. Bix's memories are what's going to help the most, so for now, we'll see you when we get there. I'd advise heading that way now actually, for anyone who isn't already there.'_ Nathair explained.

 _'Any idea on how long you think you'll be?'_ Kaleb asked quickly, and Bix knew, he just knew that Kaleb was walking with his assistant Thane to his office, where his departure wouldn't draw too much speculate.

 _'Uh from here? Ten to twenty minutes? At the most?'_ Nathair hummed in thought for a moment.

 _'Wait, wha-'_ Was many of their confused responses.

 _'Gotta go!'_ With that Nathair cut the connection between Bix and the family himself, feeling the shock and confusion coming from his rider.

"Alright ladies and gents, please keep your arms, legs, hands, feet, and head inside of the ride at all times, oh and hold on tight!" Nathair called out, before taking in a deep breath, and as soon as he felt his riders hunker down closer to his back, he released the air he took in as a type of sound wave, watching as it spun into a opening similar to what he had used earlier to contact his parents, only much larger.

"Ok, hold on tight, close your eyes, and press down as close to me as you can. And no matter what happens, don't open your eyes, keep them shut!" Nathair called out, and after he received affirmative sounds, he gave a quick couple of testing flaps of his wings, eyes the darkness beyond the opening. Tapping into Bix's memories, and bringing to the forefront of his mind all of the stories he had been told about the Pradesh family, he focused on the back porch, the family porch, the welcoming front door, the elegant structure, the sound and smells of the house being so close to the grass sea. He took Bix's memories and layered them over what he had, building the picture further in his mind.

It felt like it took precious minutes, but as he watched the opening in front of him closely, he saw the same place appear in front of them, and with a victorious grin, he dove into the opening, tucking his wings close, and ignoring the screams that erupted from those he carried. A moment later the opening closed as they disappeared into it, and the magical pressure that had been building up around that spot dispersed, leaving the area calm once more.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Much shorter chapter, but next chapter is going to be longer, and a great deal more details and background is going to be covered, so it'll be a few days before it's updated again. Please bear with me and remember to read and review!

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Whoever said that traveling by spatial gate from one place to another was the best way to travel, lied.

Completely and utterly, totally, fucking, lied.

The moment they had passed into the gate, the feeling of having their stomachs ripped out then slammed back in, repeatedly, was not something any of them ever wanted to experience again. The speed that they had been going at as they dove into the gate had also driven the breath from their lungs, stealing the ability to scream.

Cold was what they had felt for what seemed like an eternity, and honestly all three of them were far too scared to even consider going against the orders to keep their eyes closed. It felt like it took forever, being where ever they were, but warmth was soon engulfing them once more, quickly followed by their stomachs settling. Shivering slightly at the rapid changes, Erik blinked his eyes open, something he reminded himself to thank Cris for later when he saw the lunar slayer again, and felt his jaw drop at the expanse of water spreading out below him.

He could see what looked like interlocked plants below the surface, and some islands that appeared to be moving in the distance, with the water rippling above it. Shifting his gaze, he looked past Lucy's shoulder as he had ended up as the last passenger when Nathair had ducked down and scooped them up from the path that they had been racing down, and he could see Bix in front of Lucy, hunched down behind Nathairs head in an attempt to block some of the wind whipping past them.

Looking further, he could see they were rapidly approaching a large house set back from the white sands of a beach, and the large cherry wood deck that already had a few people waiting on it. Even a he watched, he saw a flare of light and a rather tall blonde busty blonde with strawberry blonde hair appear next to the dark haired man he recognized as Cris. He could see the stunned looks on their faces, and he was just lifting his hand to wave to them when he seized. The screaming soul was back and stronger than before. He immediately felt blood erupt from his nose, and the migraine that slammed into him fought for dominance in his head with the soul crying out for help, and didn't even realize he had cried out himself.

"Erik?! Erik come on man, hang on for me buddy!" Bix called back to him, glancing over his shoulder to see Erik with his hands clamped to his ears once more, blood flowing from his nose, eyes clenched shut, and even with his teeth gritted and wind in his ears, Bix could hear the high pitched whine coming from his friend. And then Bix saw him start to slide to the side, and felt his heart slam into his throat. "Lucy!"

Seeing her boyfriends eyes widen in fright, she was quick to twist in place, and instinctively lunged to catch Eriks coat but he was already too far. Between his natural weight, and adding in gravity, then including the speed in which they were flying, Lucy managed to catch a handful of his coat, but was yanked sideways as well. A string of curses escaped her as she felt Bix slam into her side, trying to hang onto them both, but they watched in growing horror as Eriks coat was torn from her grip, seeing him tumble through the air, shouts echoing out to them from the house.

And then they too were air borne, Nathair having whipped around, using the momentum, flinging them so they continued towards the house as he tucked his wings in and dove towards Erik who was free falling and didn't have a way to fly. He felt Bix's power pulse, and knew he had managed to call his babies to him, catching him and Lucy before they landed painfully. Mentally cursing up a storm, he could tell that Erik had blacked out from the soul slamming back into his consciousness. He had been worried something like this would happen, that was one of the few drawbacks to spatial gating, it tended to cut off communications of any sort from other planes until they were all on the same plane once more. This distance covered in that spatial jump had been great, and he had hoped he'd be able to get them landed before the soul managed to reach Erik once more, but obviously that hadn't worked.

Pumping his wings furiously for more speed, he managed to get under Erik in just enough time that his belly skimmed the water before pushing hard to lift them back into the air. He cringed slightly at the contact Erik made on him, hearing some cracks and snaps. Pumping his wings carefully, he eased himself into the water, folding his wings once more, and moved through the waves, using his wings to keep Erik centered on his back so he wouldn't slip into the water below. A few minutes passed and Nathair was sliding up onto the sands of the beach, meeting the others as they hurried down to pull Erik from his back, and he could see a pair of hands already glowing a silvery blue.

He could feel the familiarity of this mages magic and had to fight the urge to wrap around him in a protective coil, though the urge to do so was rather strong. There were priorities, and he knew Erik was one of the first things on that list.

"Ok, I was able to get the bleeding to stop, and heal the broken bones that came from landing on you, but I don't know how long that is going to last if Xally is still reaching out for him." Cris explained lowering his hands with a sigh. Turning his attention on the rather large snake who was looking back at him with a sheepish look, he tilted his head to the side a bit.

"You're Nathair right?" Cris asked. He was still having trouble wrapping his head around what he had found out when Kaleb had linked all of them, and was struggling with the sense of jealousy he had as he felt like he was looking at the serpentine version of himself.

Gulping slightly with nerves, Nathair nodded, realizing he wasn't sure how Cris was going to take their particular connection. He certainly wasn't expecting the sudden embrace he found himself in as Cris wrapped himself around what he could only assume was Nathairs neck. The purrs he suddenly heard though reminded him so much of his parents that he couldn't keep himself from relaxing even if he wanted to. Instead he dipped his head to embrace Cris, pulling him in closer for better hug. Pulling back, Cris took a deep breath, meeting Nathairs bright green eyes.

"How is she?" He asked softly, emotions thick in his voice.

"She's safe, misses you, but for now we need to focus on Erik. You'll all be seeing her soon enough." Nathair answered with a short flicker of his tongue. Nodding, Cris stepped back but kept close, keeping one hand resting on dark blue scales even as they turned back to the rest of the group. Running his eyes over the gathered mages, Nathair found himself drawing up a little taller, tucking his wings in a bit more neatly before bowing slightly, specifically to Arman.

"It is a pleasure to finally meet all of you. I've been dreaming of a better situation than this one that we've found ourselves in, but I'll take it." Nathair greeted softly, green eyes warm as he straightened once more.

"The pleasure is ours as well. Are you truly who you say you are? Another son of Nurem the Lunar dragon?" Arman asked, nodding his head in return. He was being overly cautious, he knew it, but after everything his family had been through in the last number of years, he'd learned to tread carefully when new things presented themselves.

"Yes I am." Nathair assured, running his gaze over every mage standing before him. He could feel the tension, the worry, and knew that he need to hurry things along. Tilting his head slightly, Arman swore he saw a smirk settle on the serpentine face before his jaw dropped as information was rattled off that only one person, or he should say creature, knew. Thankfully the information was put directly into his head, and from the corner of his eye he saw his son, Kalebs, jaw drop.

 _'Arman Pradesh, peacekeeper and Ambassador of Bosco, sound mage whose power is similar to that of Eriks, and can hear souls. It's how you manage to keep from getting caught in any traps or entanglements at diplomatic meetings. You were taken in as kin by my adopted mother Nurem, the lunar dragon slayer, mate to Draco the celestial dragon, and mate to Venenum the poison dragon. The same dragon who Erik has a lacrima from. You have a total of eight children, two of which are blood related, the others you adopted from various walks of life, saving them from worse. At one point, shortly after Nurem joined you here, Nurem witnessed you returning home at around dawn and smelling distinctly, intimately, of King Altiene.'_ Nathair paused, easing closer to the man he saw as kin, even though this was the first official time they were meeting each other

 _'Further more, you have a taste for bluenettes, but they can be rather hard to find, and with the exception of your wife who you did fall heads over heels for, you've harbored the secret that you have a soulmate out there. The blood of an archangel mage runs through you, and while you are not a full archangel mage, because it has never been tapped into, the magic in your bloodline drives you in other aspects, like instincts, to know the truth when someone is speaking to you, or when they are lying, and a drive to find your soulmate. Your son, Zen, was born an archangel mage and is rather powerful.'_ Nathair finished with a innocent tilt of his head even as his eyes gleamed with mischief, loving that he was being stared at in shock by Arman and Kaleb.

Then Kaleb jolted like he had been hit by lightning and couldn't stop the hand that reached out to grip his fathers shoulder.

 _'Is...you said IS powerful...he's...he's not...is he?'_ Kaleb asked mentally, his mental voice ragged and cracking as he stared at the massive snake before them. Turning to him, Nathair lowered his head slightly, pressing the top of his head into his torso soothingly.

 _'Yes he is...and that is a fight that has to wait a while longer, as we will need more help with that particular battle. That help is waiting for us to complete our current task.'_ Twisting his head slightly to open an eye and catch Armans scared to hope, yet desperate gaze, Nathair stretched out a wing to curl around, and pull Arman closer to them. _'Yes Arman, your son is very much alive, and a slave, but right now we need to focus on the immediate trouble. The soul that Erik is hearing to the point of tearing his own out, is Xally. I know she was due to be home a while ago, but she never arrived.'_

 _'No..no she didn't...we go weeks, months without talking sometimes, we thought she was traveling some after finishing her schooling.'_ Kaleb confirmed after swallowing hard, bracing Arman when he felt his fathers knees buckle at the new information about his second born son.

 _'She was captured by a slavery Pergrande group. I don't know everything regarding them, but I know they have her, and we need to get her back first. She is Erik's mate, and by extension of my father, he is a extended part of this family. If we don't get to her first, her own soul is going to break, and he will die.'_ With that Nathair turned back to the rest of the group, seeing them all with worried and confused looks on their faces, he shifted his gaze to Cristoff.

"Cristoff, please grab Erik, keep him under for now, we need your help keeping the nosebleeds and migraines at bay. We all need to gather inside, as there is much information to be given, and I'd much rather have everyone sitting down for it." Nathair said, and once Cristoff had Erik cradled in his arms, he followed him, the rest of the family following close behind.

Watching his family, his incomplete family hurry into the house with a giant snake, Arman kept Kaleb at his side for a moment before striding into the house as well.

 _'Kaleb, for the love of all that is good and holy, everything you heard, with the exception of Zen, I want you to purge from your memory, especially the one concerning Altiene, do you understand?'_ Armans voice was firm, but his trembling hand exposed the riot of feelings spinning through him.

 _'Whatever happened is between the two of you, let's focus on getting the rest of the family back, and we'll discuss the other things he mentioned later. Especially the bluenettes...'_ Kaleb smirked slightly, ducking the cuff he nearly got across his shoulder, before following him into the house where others were waiting.


	5. Breaking News!

Back from the...Almost...Dead...

Live from the crazy world that is the inside of sassykittens head, here is the latest news of her current life, and the insanity that has kept her away for far longer than she'd like. Please stay tuned.

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The scene was set, the desire was there, and she could hear the quiet murmurs and gentle taps coming from the kitchen where two unexpected guests had ended up, claiming that it was what she needed. But that wasn't true. What she needed had abandoned her when she had needed it the most.

Her muse.

Sitting curled up on a well worn couch with a blanket tucked around her, a poorly neglected laptop tucked into her lap, tears could be seen trailing down her cheeks as she stared sadly at the still blank page in front of her. It had been months since she had touched a single key of her beloved computer, months since she had argued with her muse to create worlds that others would love. Sure, things had happened that were far beyond her control, but that wasn't the point.

Hearing a boom of thunder echo outside of the living room window, she jolted, tucking down deeper into the blanket draped around her shoulders and lightly sniffed. She didn't know what deities she had pissed off, but the last year had gone out with a rather large 'fuck you' and the new year appeared to be continuing the trend, at least for the next month or two.

The sound of a door being slammed open to hit the wall with a bone jarring crack had her shrieking, jumping and spinning around, nearly falling off the couch, only to come face to face with a rather close, furious face, blue gray eyes cold as death, and sparks flying around him. Whimpering, she was quick to shrink back as far away from the hulking behemoth towering over her. Alas, the couch kept her from going too far, and she found herself cornered against the arm and back.

"What the hell do you think you've been doing you lazy shit?! Haven't even cracked your computer open once until now, and still nothing?! What the fuck is that blank page bullshit?!" The tall blonde male snarled, bending over to growl into her face, not even backing down when her brown eyes behind thick lensed glasses widened, and more tears fell.

The little brown puppy burrowed in another blanket, napping at her feet, leapt up with a snarl to snap at Laxus's face. "Leave her alone, you big meany! She was sick!"

"Laxus! What is your problem?" A smaller decidedly more feminine blond stomped into the room, followed by a one eyed, maroon haired, glaring man.

"Yeah, asshole. You wanna put her back in the hospital or something?" A single purple eye glared at the big blond before the maroon-haired man held a bowl of soup out for the bedridden woman.

Gulping, trembling, the woman reached out to carefully take the bowl, bracing it on her chest even as she reached out for the puppy, scooping it into her lap, running gentle fingers down the bristling spine.

"It's ok Thera, it's ok. I can take it, besides he's not wrong. None of you are, but dammit I should've been able to do something..."

"Well with you feeding her its no wonder she was in the hospital!"

Cringing, the woman ducked her head down before lifting the bowl to her lips, sipping at the just over warm broth. Feeling movement against the neck of her skin, she reached up to run careful fingers over the soft nose of Nathair who had been drawn out of hiding, peeking his head out from under a fold of blanket.

"I'm a damn good cook when I wanna be Spark Plug."

"We are here to help her feel better, unlike some people."

"You two should be just as upset as I am! You are both being left in limbo in all her stories because she is neglecting us!"

"She isn't neglecting us on purpose you overgrown sparking twat-waffle! She almost fucking died!" Erik snarled, hands curling to keep from unleashing possible poison. He had seen Nathair peek his head out, and even now was a bit impressed with the names he could hear the little snake calling Laxus.

"What the hell are you idiots talking about? It's obvious she doesn't care anymore, she's never left any of us for this long before! So, what lame excuse did she give you bleeding hearts to win you over?" Laxus scoffed, arms crossing over his chest even as he continued to stare down at the cowering woman on the couch. His nose twitched slightly as he stared at the still growling brown puppy, trying to find out why the pup seemed so familiar to him. Flicking his eyes up to the small snake staring at him hard, he merely lifted his brow. Here was yet another character that had been neglected, created by the woman herself, and somehow he was in the wrong.

"Pull your big electric head out of your huge ass, Laxus Dreyer." Laxus blinked at the foul mouthed little canine. "For starters you are only seriously limbo-ing in, like, one of her stories right now, and that is Overkill Fieldtrip where you have your little water mage of a mate tucked right against your side. I know, because I put her there! And she has been helping as much as she can while she was hovering on the edge of death!" The puppy crawled up and tucked her head under the woman's chin. "Stupid dragon."

Huffing a little wetly, the woman finished the broth quickly before wrapping both arms around the puppy. "Thank you Therashae, you're a sweetheart." She murmured, continuing to give gentle scritches behind cute floppy ears.

Blinking a little in shock at the name, it took a moment before Laxus' jaw dropped when the name he heard connected.

"Wait, Therashae?! This little brown ball of fluff is Therashae?!" Laxus demanded.

Sighing in a bit of exhaustion, the woman looked up at him with tired eyes. "Yes, this is Therashae. When we visit each other in our own worlds to work with the stupidly stubborn characters that we are absolutely crazy about, we tend to be a bit different. She's more puppy like here, and when I go there, in her world, I turn into a little black kitten that drives her versions of you guys absolutely nuts at times."

"I've poisoned her furless more than once over there." Erik rolled his eyes before plopping down on the other end of the couch, crossing his own arms over his chest. "And yet, like a cockroach, she just keeps coming back. Don't know why the fuck we were so worried about her this time..." The enraged shriek that came from the still standing, smaller blondes soul had him wincing.

"You know why Erik. This was completely different." Lucy snapped, fisting her hands on her hips.

"Ok enough, obviously I'm missing something, what the hell happened?" Laxus demanded, furious gaze darting from one hostile glare to another before falling once more on the tired brown eyes of the woman on the couch.

"Want the long, short, or summary of what has been going on in the crap that is my life right now?" The woman asked with a sardonic smirk.

"Uhh... Summarize it? I really don't do the whole whining, sob story thing."

"Ok, short and to the point then. If it hadn't happened once before, on a much smaller scale, and I hadn't known what to look out for symptom wise, there is a very good chance I would've died in November of last year." The woman said with a shrug, glancing down at the soothing warmth of the ball of fur in her lap, missing the shocked look on the larger blondes face.

""That was, like, two months ago..."

""Hey look, guys! Sparkling dipshit can count! Besides, that wasn't the only crap that happened to her since the end of October, that was just the most severe thing." Erik huffed, scooting down further into the couch as he felt his own twang of guilt. "Look, I damn near reacted like you when I first showed up a few weeks ago, but I had the added benefit of hearing everything that happened in her soul. After that, even I felt like a complete dick, and that doesn't happen. Ever." He admitted, grumbling, casting his eyes to the side.

"Aww! Look, Lucy. Erik's heart is showing. I just wanna give him so many puppy kisses!"

"Do it and suck poison you brown lumped rat!"

"But you're so cute when you have feelings! I bet you taste like candy too! Like caramel! Ooh! Or chicken liver! I bet you taste like chicken liver! Please! Just one kiss! I promise I won't do more than one or ten!"

There was a flash of gold where Virgo appeared, left a bowl full of chicken liver on the couch between them, and disappeared once more.

"Well...looks like you got the chicken liver you wanted..." chuckling softly, the woman placed Therashae next to the bowl, giving her one last pet, before turning back to Laxus. "So...you still want the short and to the point? Or a few more details?"

Laxus watched the little brown puppy happily munch on the fried liver, extremely concerned that his future was in the hands of an insane dog and a slightly dead crying woman. Groaning, he ran his hands roughly over his face before plopping down on the chair that he had been standing next to, he heard Lucy head back into the kitchen. Eyeing the group on the couch, he saw the snake tuck itself back into the folds of blanket around the womans shoulders.

"Alright, so maybe a few more details would be good, but don't take forever, and please for the love of Mavis, don't start crying more than you already are."

Taking a deep breath, the woman nodded before beginning.

"Back in October, I came down sick with some stupid stomach bug that lasted about a week. A week went by, I was fine, then I got sick again, this time with a head cold. Again, lasted roughly a week. It sucked, but no big deal, it's happened before. It was the end of October that things started to go wrong." Pausing for a moment, the woman reached out take a sip of water from the glass Lucy had brought back in before leaning on the couch next to Erik.

"My dear Aunt Flo arrived, again, not really a big deal...until it lasted over a week, and the entire time it was heavy. One week turned into two, had a day or two with nothing, only for it to start again, still very heavy. This continued on throughout all of November. It was severe enough that I ended up in the hospital needing a transfusion of two units of blood. They even put me on medication to stop the bleeding. It didn't work. Roughly a week and a half later, I was back in the hospital after almost feinting at work and getting sick, and was admitted, only to have another transfusion, this time of four units." Pausing for a breath and another drink, she continued.

"So in total, in less than two weeks, I had to have six units of blood put back into me. And I'm fairly certain you're aware that a human body only has about eight units of blood in it. Obviously there was something wrong. After another week or two, it finally stopped. I thought I was in the clear. How wrong I was. About another week to week and a half later, I woke up to sharp stabbing pains, worse than cramps, in my lower right back, stabbing into my front. Back to the emergency room I went, and after getting a cat scan, it was found that I had a 7mm kidney stone in my right kidney, that I could not pass on my own, and was literally backing it up. I was given more medication, sent home, and told that I would be called to set up an appointment to get it handled."

Letting out a tired sigh, she closed her eyes and rolled her head on her shoulders before opening them once more, shrugging at the horrified look on the famed Thunder Gods face.

"The only drawback is it wouldn't have happened until after the first of the year. I still had a week before that happened. The pain became too much, even with the meds, and I went back in two days after Christmas to have an emergency surgery, where I was knocked out, and woke up to having a stent in me. From there I spent over a week with it in me, but finally got it removed. For the record, having a stent in is very uncomfortable, and painful when moving. Imagine the feeling of a uti, but with the knowledge that you don't actually have one. I'm still recovering from those things, and the month isn't done yet. I still have a consult to go go, so I can schedule another surgery to get my own tubes snipped. SO yea, I've been going through a lot the last few months."

"So basically her body tried to drain itself in order to die and escape her brain and when that didn't work it blocked the exits and tried to drown her. Painfully. Impressive really." Lucy slapped the back of Cobra's head. "Ow! Paws off woman!" Shooting a glare over his shoulder at the small blonde, he rubbed the back of his head before turning back to Laxus. "And now she has to cut a chunk of herself out to appease the gods of death and carnage." He was quick to dodge the next swipe Lucy sent after his head, but just barely.

Laxus rubbed his forehead. "OK. So..." The room waited silently for his apology. "Are you done dying now so we can get on with our stories?"

Lucy growled and the puppy pushed it's ears over it's eyes and pinned them there with it's little white paws.

"Shit! Scary Lucy! I'm out!" Erik proofed out of existence just like one of Lucy's spirits.

Chuckling quietly, the woman reached up to pat Lucy's hand. "It's ok Luce, I know he doesn't apologize often. At least now he knows, and I can tell him, and the other readers, that yes, I'm back, and as far as I'm aware, I'm done dying now. It may still take me a bit of time to get back to everything, and I have other ideas that have started planting tiny seeds, but I'm going to be working on updates slowly."

Turning back to Laxus, smirking evilly at the suddenly worried he gave her. "And besides, I'm going to be home for a week after the next, and hopefully last, surgery for a long time. My husband isn't going to let me do much so I'll be working on updates to help fend off boredom."

Patting Lucy on the hand once more, the woman smiled. "Go ahead and head on back, I'll be fine. I'll make sure to call if I need help with anything on my end ok?"

"You'd better. I have no qualms siccing Virgo on you if needed to make sure you do." Giving a quick sniff, Lucy disappeared like Erik had in a poof. Smiling gently, the woman lifted the little brown pup to give it an eskimo kiss. "Thank you for your help Therashae, I'll make sure to yell if I need help. I should be fine for now though, if you want to take this story and share it with the readers of Overkill?"

"Okie Dokie. Can do. Rest up good so we can do awesome stuff with all the dragon slayers making sexy eyes at their mates!" With a quick lick to the womans cheeks, Therashae the pup poofed out, a roll of paper clamped between her teeth. Turning back to the large blonde still sitting closed by, the woman began to smirk and suddenly Laxus felt very, very nervous.

"That's right Laxus, be nervous. Because come January 29th, I will be going through what will hopefully be the last of my surgeries for a VERY long time. And when that happens, I'll be on mandatory bed rest, leaving me with roughly a week or two to come up with all sorts of things to get back at you with. So just you wait, and be nervous, be very nervous."

He gulped.

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That's right folks, what will hopefully be my last surgery for a good long time, will be happening on January 29th, and once I've recovered from that, no longer will I have to worry when dear Aunt Flo will pay a visit and potentially hospitalize me again. So please bear with me, I'm trying to get in what updating I can between now and then, and will then have roughly 2 weeks of bedrest to hopefully, finally, make some updates. Thank you all for you time!

 **Nathair flicks his tongue out in a silent wave**


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